Coolant leak on Cummings Diesel engine
We are sitting up in the north Georgia mountains and were preparing to head south, when we noticed a small coolant leak. We have a Cummins 370 ISL engine with a side radiator. The leak appears t...
Forum Discussion
MrWizard wrote:
there was NO stop engine light
the temp gauge started going nuts
going high, dropping down, then going high again
i foolishly pushed on to the next exit off I-40 in Az instead of pulling over on the interstate
The temperature gauge can sometimes be misleading if water is lost in the cooling system. Perhaps this is why it seemed to go "nuts" in your case.
When the cooling system is full, the temperature gauge probe works fine because it is surrounded by water.
However, as the water level begins dropping, it begins to leave the probe "dry" surrounded only by air, thus leaving the gauge unable to accurately measure the water temperature. In your case, I bet the surges of water and air caused by the dropping water level caused the gauge to drop and rise with the water surges.
A lot of engines have been ruined by water leaks which leave the cooling system without water and the temperature gauge not accurately reporting the engine temperature.
I've got two alternative systems to help avoid this problem: an engine oil temperature gauge, which should catch the overheating problem quickly, and a low water-pressure indicator, which provides an alarm when the water level falls, since the water system pressure should fall as well.
